September 23, 2014

Trying My Hand at Jewelry with Ilene Steele

Pictured with jewelry designer, Ilene Steele (left), in her studio in Hatton Garden

In July,
I wrote a piece about Ilene Steele (read it here) and her breakthrough into the jewelry industry with the Wave
Collection. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Steele in her
studio, surrounded by the fruits of her labor. Hatton Garden is London’s
illustrious jewelry quarter, giving true weight to the saying, “diamonds are a
girl’s best friend.” Resisting the temptation to pop into a shop or two on my way to Steele
required immense self-control, but my wandering eye for jewelry was
successfully satiated as soon as I stepped into Steele’s domain.

One might
say that I opened Pandora’s (or rather, Ilene’s) box of jewels and there’s now
no turning back. Steele was kind enough to let me try on an assortment of her
rings. Speaking for females everywhere, I experienced a little slice of heaven,
playing “dress up,” but the grown-up version. Laced with a treasure trove of twinkling
gems on my fingers, I settled in to what proved to be less of an interview and
more of a conversation with the creative force behind it all.

I would
like to give a big thank you to Cameron Roffey and Ilene Steele for making this
interview possible.

Laura Rutkowski: What drew you to
designing jewelry opposed to other artistic mediums?

Ilene
Steele: As a student, I was a photojournalist, so I did journalism and became
interested in photography. I really, really liked photography, but it never
occurred to me to actually pursue it from the fine art side, which I actually
wish I had now. I went on to become very technical, so I was a systems analyst.
I worked in coding and inside systems with very logical data flow. I really was
looking for a hobby, something to take my mind off things, and I did a little
jewelry course. There’s just something so nice about working with particularly
precious metals and doing things small enough so they can be contained
completely. Everything is in your control and there’s an organic creativeness
in it. If something goes wrong, you look at it and think, “Oh, well what can I
do now?” It’s not the end of it. You start again and there’s just something so
satisfying about it.

These are
some cufflinks I’ve done [shows me] and I decided that actually maybe I want
this a bit different, that a bit different, and so I’ve done two more styles
and I quite like when you put something together. It’s something about the
ever-changing nature of it, that you can smooth and curve, maybe a bit more
like this, a bit more like that. I love jewelry, so it’s lovely that at the end
of it you have something you can wear and you can enjoy. It’s not just a piece
of furniture or something, which is lovely too, but there’s something that’s a
bit more portable, with a bit more longevity.

Steele's latest creation: cufflinks

LR: Something you can wear
everyday.

IS: Yeah,
the idea that it lasts forever.

LR: Yeah definitely, I think a lot
of people see jewelry that way. You wear your favorite things everyday.

IS: When
I’m gone, it’ll carry on. My daughter will have it, and someday, some
grandchild will probably melt it all down!

LR: Aw no, don’t say that!

IS: Well,
I expect because I made it, my grandkids wouldn’t, but you know what I mean.
Sometimes things go out of style and people melt them down and reuse them, but
then it’s still living on.

Steele's workstation

LR: Do you find the creative process
in London different to that of New York?

IS: Well,
because I’ve never actually been creative or worked in the creative industry in
New York, it’s hard to say, but when I’ve been to New York recently and I’ve
met with other creative people, I find that, not to be anti-London, but I have
to say that everything is more accessible in New York. Everything’s cheaper.
It’s easier to play and experiment and try different things. Here, there’s less
available to be honest. When I’ve been to shops there, in a similar part of
town as this, it just blows my mind. It’s like being in an Aladdin’s Cave or
something. You could spend hours just looking through the trays of the stuff
that they’ve got, and also when I go to the States, I often look at some of the
shops that they’ve got over there, you know online, and I order some things and
have them sent to a friend.

Playing with fire

Often times, I can’t be bothered to lug stuff back,
but I’ve had lots of people here that have. You just have tools that make your
working easier and I have had people literally go across New York with an empty
suitcase, because of the weight of some of these things to bring back and then
they charge so much tax. There’s like 15 different types of taxes if you have
them sent to you here. People actually have gone with a suitcase just to buy a
really necessary piece of equipment for their work, so I don’t know why that
is, why they don’t have all those things here. I suppose also, it’s bolder in
New York. I think people aren’t afraid to stand out. They’re quite happy to put
themselves forward that way. Here, I think things are a bit more low-key.

Steele's rings make for the perfect finishing touch to my outfit

LR: Walk me through a typical day
at your studio.

IS: Well,
I like to get in early. I rarely seem to get in as early as I would like. Both of
my kids are living at home again, so I never get in as early as I like, but I
get shopping done in the morning, because all the shops are quite empty first
thing, so it’s good for any errands that I have to do. If I need to see stone
dealers or something, I can, because we’re all on our own. After 11 o’clock,
everything just builds. Then, if I’ve left things in a mess, I have to tidy. I
normally like to have several things on the go at the same time, because while I’m
waiting for something to cool or if I solder something and I put it in the
pickle [an acid compound used to remove oxidized surfaces and flux from metal
after soldering], I like to have something else. I normally have maybe three
things I’ll be working on in conjunction with each other, so that while one’s
doing this or that’s cooling down, then I always have something
to do, so I’m never sitting there waiting while it’s in the pickle. I have an
awful lot of stuff and so I’m always kind of wondering, “Where’s this? Where’s
that?” I’ve got so many different things laid out and organized, so I waste a
lot of time being inefficient in that way, I have to say.

I play a
lot, so I’ve got all these little things over here that I’m playing with right
now. They actually were offcuts from other pieces that I made, that I’ve always
really liked, so I’ve always been saving all these pieces. For example, I
used one here as a jump ring [holds up the necklace she is wearing], so I’ve
got some earrings now that I’m making. I just spend a lot of time playing and
making models and so I might be in the middle of doing something over there and
I think, “Ah!” and I get a piece of brass out and I start cutting it and I
think, “What about this?” I really, really like working in brass and I
typically do it because, well obviously it’s cheaper to make models and things
from it, but I actually really like it.

Steele's dazzling necklace pops against her rippled royal blue dress

LR: If you had to pick a favorite
piece from the Wave Collection, what would it be and why?

IS:
That’s a difficult one. Well, I haven’t actually finished the collection yet.
This is a piece that I just never get around to making [shows me sketch],
which is called the hero. It’s like the hero piece of the collection, a really,
really standout piece. I haven’t done it yet, but I do have all these little
bits that I have started [shows me], so I’ve got most of the pieces, but not
all of them. It’s funny how it’s a very time-consuming piece. I’m thinking how
I could do other things with the pieces in the meantime and I get a bit
sidetracked. That piece is going to take such a long time to make, so I’m just
doing other things with it. One of the things I haven’t quite worked out about
it is how it’s going to move, because I can’t just make that as a solid piece,
so there’s going to have to be some hinging somehow. I think one day I’ll be
down at the pub or something and I’ll think, “Ah!” I’m waiting to get the light
bulb on how this is going to move, so I haven’t quite got that yet, so I think
that would be my favorite piece.

Steele wearing one of her favorite rings from the Wave Collection

It’s
funny, because right now, I’m really liking this [shows me her necklace]. I
actually really like the cufflinks too. I think they’re really clever. You look
in the shops and they have chain cufflinks and all those things. You think of
Prince Charles and he’s got a valet, which is perfect, but if you’ve ever tried
to put on a chain cufflink, it’s ridiculous and so I really like the idea that
these push in and they’re quite robust. I talked to lots of people before I
started making them and people said they step on them, they break, they always
fall apart, this happens, that happens, and you know what men are like, so I
thought, “I’m going to make a really indestructible cufflink,” where you can
drop them, you can step on them, you can do this, you can do that, and this
thing will not be defeated. I do quite like those, but possibly, these might be
my favorite piece [shows me pale green drop earrings], because I think they’re
really clever.

According to Steele, these earrings "look good on any kind of an ear," photo courtesy of Ilene Steele Jewelry

Before I
started making jewelry, I was frustrated about the fact that my ears are really close to my
face and all the earrings are always designed for people whose ears stick out
even more. When I go to shows and things, all the props to hang earrings on are
like this [holds hands out at the side of her head to mimic ears sticking out],
but whose head is like that? These earrings, they’re really, really clever I
think, because they’re made to go on the side of your head, the way your head
actually is. They’re not straight on, but then I couldn’t find any props that
they’d hang from, so that you can actually notice them, so I had to think about
making my own little props for them. They look really, really good on any kind
of an ear. They do show forward and they look good from all angles. Possibly
just because I think these are the cleverest thing that I’ve done, I think
maybe these are my favorite.

LR: That’s a good point. I never
really thought about it that way before, showing off the earring in the best
way.

IS: Yeah,
because my ears are really flat to my head, I’ve had lots of disastrous pairs
of earrings and I put them on and they just don’t work.

LR: The Wave Collection has a very
clear direction, inspired by the sea. What do you find most alluring about the
nautical theme?

IS: Well,
what’s interesting is, I wouldn’t actually call it a nautical theme, but it’s
definitely based on looking at the sea as an analogy for life. It’s very, very
deep. It’s awesome, it’s powerful, and it’s got hidden depths. If you delve too
far down, you can get lost. It’s best not to go too deep. If we trust life, it
supports us and we float and we buoy along, so I see the wave as being about
life. I’m a very urban person. I’m not really outdoorsy, although I do find the
sea absolutely awesome. There’s something about the power of it, that it’s
slightly scary.

I wore stripes to be in-keeping with Steele's sea-inspired vision

LR: You’re attracted, but scared
at the same time.

IS: Yeah,
and you have to trust in it and float and you have to navigate carefully. The
initial rings are about this idea of ships and people rollicking around a bit
on the sea and the ups and downs and the juxtapositions that you get on the
ocean. The double ring actually is one of of my favorite things as well really,
the two stones together. It’s about people finding each other in the sea of
life, trying to navigate together.

LR: Have you ever considered
working with pearls, considering their relation to the sea?

IS: I
have worked with pearls, stringing, not knotting. I do really like pearls. The
reason why I haven’t used them in jewelry, this kind of jewelry, is because
they’re glued. You can’t heat a pearl and I can’t work in the way that I
would normally work, so there’s something about the fact that they’re glued
annoys me. I will actually use pearls, but I’ll probably put them, not a whole
string of them, but possibly wire them into something and I might actually use
them on rings, if I could really believe that they won’t just fall off. When I
used to have pearl earrings when I was younger, they would inevitably fall off,
definitely if the glue gets wet. Typically, what they do is they drill a hole
and then there’ll be a post, which will ideally have threads on it, and the pearl,
because it’s so soft, you can use a bit of glue and twist it on, screw it on.
There’s something about the inability of pearls on rings and earrings, but not
if you put the wire through them. Then I feel it has more longevity somehow. I
do know people who wear pearl rings, but you have to be really careful, because
pearls are very soft.

Spoiled for choice!

LR: About how long does each piece
take to design?

IS: The
way that I work, right now these rings that I’ve got here, when I make things
for experimenting, I just put them in a box, so I’ve got all these bits sitting
around that I’m not particularly using and then I will think, “Okay, well I’m
just going to use a bunch of stuff,” so I just make things from components.
That is pretty much typically how I work. I make components, so I might have a
day when I don’t know what else I should do, so I’ll make a bunch of these or
I’ll make some rings up and then I have everything in a drawer when I want to
use them. It’s very difficult for me to say how long things take, because as I
say, I never work on just one thing, so I’ll be working on several different
things at the same time, and if something frustrates me, as these two have
[shows me two rings], I can leave them aside for a bit.

One of
the things that was quite frustrating about this [holds up ring] is it’s seven
different pieces of metal soldered together and, literally when you’re heating one
bit, another bit can fall off and so you try to find ways to support it. After soldering
all the pieces together and then looking at it and realizing now I’ve got it,
then typically when I want to take it apart, it won’t fall apart, so I’ll be
heating it and it’ll be all bright red and I’ll be hitting it with the tweezers
and it won’t fall off. It only falls off when you don’t want it to. Some things
can take ages. It’s very difficult to say.

Steele hard at work trying to correct a ring that won't stand up straight

I’m doing
a gold ring right now, in rose gold, which hasn’t taken long at all. I’ve been
extremely careful. I’ve done everything in models first, because obviously it’s
gold and I don’t want to have to redo it, because in this instance, I’ve got a
particular stone, so I can’t say, “Oh, I’ll just do something different,”
because it’s an unusual size as well. Normally, the marquee’s width is half the
length, whereas this is a much longer stone, so it’s not usual. I wouldn’t be
able to buy another stone to fit it. It’s actually going really, really well,
but it could be because I’m being so careful, because it’s gold, so I’m just
doing everything really slowly. I’ve done so many rings as you can imagine,
that the rings are actually quite easy, but these are my newest piece really
[referring to the cufflinks].

LR: What direction would you like
your next collection to take?

IS: Well,
I have to finish this collection first, but I think that once I do the hero
piece, which instead of being the first piece might be the last piece I do,
once I do the hero piece, I think that my next collection would be something
that would work well with this collection. I don’t know what other people do,
whether they go on to something completely different, but I like the idea of
everything working well together, so the next collection would have to fit in
well with all of this.

LR: Alright, well that’s all I have
for you! Is there anything else you’d like to add or talk about?

IS: I
might go back to the London/New York thing and say that, although New York is
more bold in style and more happy to put itself out there and be a bit more
“look at me,” I think in London, there’s definitely something more quirky. I
mean, of course in New York they do have the part of the industry that is
quirky, but generally, New York does have a reputation for being quite perfectionist,
everything really, really perfect. Whereas, I think London fashion’s happier to
have things quirky. It’s “cut this off” or “tweak that.” I’m very New York, I
suppose. I always like the finish to be really, really perfect. There is a lot
to be said for the London quirkiness as opposed to the New York perfectionist.

With her
sleek designs as proof, Steele’s perfectionist tendencies clearly have paid
off. Afterwards, Steele turned the interview around on me, which was a pleasant surprise. I found myself answering one of the same questions I had posed to
her: If you had to pick a favorite piece from the Wave Collection, what would
it be and why? I opted for one of the mini rings set with a dusty blush-colored stone,
the ultimate definition of femininity and grace, not entirely unlike Steele herself.

Shop the Wave Collection at Wolf & Badger
online here and
in store, at the Clerkenwell Collection (for directions, see here), or
from Steele’s official website here. I
certainly know what I’m saving up for…

Stacked and matching my favorite rings of the day; I'll take one of each, please